Steve Turner - Please Read

[RayRay]

Steve- If your company is Texas Sports Wire there is a service that advertises that he gets your picks and people can buy it as part of his consensus service. I doubt that he subscribes to your service. His name is Greg Roberts and the name of his company is called national consensus. His website is www.consensus900.com. I called him and he was really rude to me. told me everything he does is legit and he will bet up to $25,000 that his picks are better than anyone. he says he takes on all comers but no one wants a piece of him. Says he is the most successful in the U.S. Do you know anything about him?
Is he legit or full of _hit? Just thought I'd let you know. Sounds like he is doing something against the law.

[The Prophet]

caveat emptor.....

I've had some problems in the past with these clowns who use my selections as part of "Consensus Services". About a year ago I got wind that one of my clients was doing this and was fairly ripped about it until I spoke to another fine handicapper, Big Al McMordie, who was also part of the "Consensus Report". In his experience, he found that the "consensus report" got his picks correct less than 50% of the time. Furthermore, anyone that would subscribe to one of the bottom feeders of the sports handicapping profession like this basically deserved what they got.

Anyway, after I figured out who my "leak" was I just jerked with him for awhile. I went out of my way to give him the absolute worst plays I could come up with. After I got tired of doing that I just cancelled his service. He probably continued to offer "my" picks on his consensus report, but since he had no clue who I was playing anymore I didn't really care.

Bottom line is that these people who offer "consensus services" are usually just scam artists and not very good ones at that. I guess you could make a case for "theft of service" or some other legal transgression, but its usually not worth the effort to do anything about them. 9 times out of 10 they're losers with no real assets to go after, and they never stick around for the longterm.

That's what I know about consensus services in general. As far as Greg Roberts, I don't know who he is or what his service is about and I really don't have much interest in finding out. And regardless of what he says I seriously doubt that bookmakers in Nevada and offshore are exactly recoiling in fear when he makes his plays every day. It's usually a good rule of thumb when dealing with sports services that those that claim that they are "World Champion" or the "Best in the World" usually aren't anywhere close to it. The good services earn their rep through longevity, word of mouth, and from satisfied clients that come back year after year because they make money. The services that have to blow a lot of hype about themselves usually do so because they can't get clients to come back and have to continually hoodwink new ones into signing up.

JRM
THE PROPHET
www.netprophetsports.com

[Jeff]

You gotta love the wording......HIS picks are better than anyones and HE takes on all comers......yet they aren't even HIS picks.

RayRay....send old Greg on over. I'm sure we can find a taker for his 25k challenge.

[RayRay]

Greg Roberts

Maybe I didn't get everything straight. Greg Roberts has his own service and he has a seperate service that has @30 picks from other companies. If you look at his website he is on a lot of radio shows throughout the country. This consensus service of his does take away clients from services. My attorney says he is breaking federal laws by doing this if he doesn't have permission.
He will bet anyone $25,000.00 with his picks vs theirs for a whole season in whichever the sport the challenger wants. Someone needs to bet this clown and also drag his _ss into federal court and teach him a lesson.

[Blowfish]

Please lets try to keep this sort of thing out of federal court, or any court for that matter, it doesn't seem to go over real well.....

Does Greg Roberts claim the picks from others are his, or does he give the others credit for their picks? He isn't betting these 30 other handicappers that he will beat their picks is he?

Steve? Do you know about this guy using your stuff?

[STEVE TURNER]

Yes, I know about Gregg Roberts and several other consensus sights. I can't comment at this time. This fall there will be some Federal District Cout Action. That is why I can't comment.

Another Consensus service, Sports Monitor out of Chicago, gives my baseball picks everyday and they are never the right selections.

[freefallin]

Seems like these services are just as likely to be corrupt as the sportsbooks.

[The Prophet]

I would suggest that sports services as a species are *more* likely to be corrupt than the sportsbooks. And this coming from someone who is in "the industry". There are a lot of good, honest and successful handicappers out there--I'd like to include myself on that list--but there are plenty of crooks and wanna-bes too. While a lot of "bad" sportsbooks start with good intentions and end up with financial problems that lead to their demise, a lot of sports services are crooked from the get-go.

Just like Jeff's warning to "beware" of the books on the bubble between now and football season should be heeded, I'd like to add my own warning about sports services. Football season brings 'em out of the woodwork, and I'm not exactly making a major revelation when I say that a lot of 'em aren't on the up-and-up. I'm in the process of writing some articles about what to look for (and what to avoid) when choosing a sports service. I'll have it up on my website within the next week or so, and I'd suggest that everyone take a look at it.

Here's one good rule of thumb--any service that promotes an ex-NFL player as their source of handicapping knowledge is best avoided. 9 times out of 10 (if not 10 times out of 10) these guys are just paid for the use of their name and likeness and don't have a damn thing to do with the service itself. If you ask me, the notion that just because someone played in the NFL they can also handicap the NFL is pretty silly to begin with. I mean, I can do a fair job of *handicapping* the NFL, but that doesn't mean I could *play* in the NFL. It's the same premise in reverse.

Other than that, a lot of it is just common sense. Beware services that make outlandish promises like 70% winners, bluster on and on about "locks", "games of the year" (that occur seemingly every week) and other such nonsense. A guy that says he'll win in the mid 50% range and does so is worth a lot more than some clown who claims to hit 70% and doesn't.

I'd also avoid services that offer a lot of different "packages" at increasing price levels. While there are some services that offer more if you pay more, a lot of times this is just the oldest handicapping scam in the book at work--it goes like this: You sign up for the "Silver Package". If the games lose, the sports service guy says "yeah, the "Silver Package" is losing but our "Gold Package" is kicking ass." The idea is to get you to pony up more money for what are ostensibly qualitatively better plays. If these plays win, you're happy and if they lose they'll come back with the same line--"our "Gold Package" plays are losing, but the "Platinum Package" is kicking ass."

I'll have more on this subject as football season draws nearer.

JRM
THE PROPHET
www.netprophetsports.com

Originally posted by freefallin
Seems like these services are just as likely to be corrupt as the sportsbooks.